Life Advocacy Briefing

We’re Back

LIFE ADVOCACY BRIEFING’s EDITORIAL TEAM have been traveling; consequently, this is our first edition in two weeks. We have much to report and will endeavor to keep our readers informed of contemplated actions on which we can weigh in as citizens as well as reporting news as it happens.

We already can see that we will find a challenge in our tradition of publishing as many Congressional roll calls – including procedural votes – as we can, pertaining to the cause of Life. We ask our readers to be patient with the inevitability that several of these roll calls will be strung out over several weeks, in the interest of keeping up with news at the same time we publish the votes for the record.

So, do not be surprised if some of the roll calls are published weeks after they occur; we will do our best to report the action in a timely manner, even if the compilations of the Representatives’ and Senators’ voting records inevitably lag somewhat.

Senate Acts on Becerra Nomination

THE SENATE VOTED LAST WEDNESDAY TO CONFIRM Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health & Human Services. The vote was 50-49, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) breaking party ranks to back Planned Parenthood’s defender. We publish the roll call at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

The Becerra nomination was so controversial that the Senate Committee on Finance had refused to advance it to the floor, prompting a Senate discharge vote March 11 to bring the nomination to the Senate. We will publish roll calls on that discharge motion and on last Wednesday’s procedural motion to close debate on the nomination in a future edition.  

Mr. Becerra recently resigned his post as California Attorney General to take the cabinet job. In that post, one of his most notorious actions was pursuit of his predecessor’s prosecution against undercover journalist David Daleiden for exposing Planned Parenthood’s involvement in baby-body-parts trafficking. He also went after pregnancy care centers. During his Congressional career before his Attorney General appointment, Mr. Becerra chalked up a vocal and consistent record supporting abortion generally and Planned Parenthood in particular.

His appointment to lead the huge federal health bureaucracy was controversial not only because of his fawning support of the abortion cartel but also because of his total lack of professional credentials or experience in the healthcare field or any human service arena.

E.R.A. Revisited?

THE U.S. HOUSE VOTED last Wednesday to send to the Senate a multi-issue resolution which included an unconstitutional provision to reinstate a ratification process for the long-dead Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which legal scholars believe would (among many other negative effects) cement “abortion rights” into the Constitution.

The vaguely worded ERA was first sent out to the states by Congress in 1972, complete with a seven-year deadline for ratification; when it had failed to achieve approval by the needed three-fifths of the state legislatures as 1979 approached, Congress adopted a resolution extending the deadline to June 30, 1982. Upon its second death, the ratification process ceased for several years and then was revived in targeted state legislatures, even though both ratification deadlines had passed.

On March 5, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to recognize the post-deadline ratifications and, in effect, declared the proposed Constitutional amendment dead. The response of the left-wing ideologues in Congress: introduction of a resolution claiming all over again that the long-dead radical proposal is eligible for ratification and that the post-1982 so-called ratifications are valid after all. We publish this week the roll call by which the House adopted a multi-faceted resolution incorporating the ERA revival along with less controversial matters; we will be publishing a procedural roll call related to this vote in a future edition.

Calls to home-state US Senators are urgently needed, requesting that they vote “no” on HRes-233 or any other attempt to revive the Equal Rights Amendment. [Capitol switchboard: 1-202/224-3121]

Stateside

• NEW MEXICO GOV. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM – until recently a Democratic Member of Congress – in late February signed into law a measure which National Right to Life News Today writer Dave Andrusko says makes her state – “an already very abortion-friendly state – into a wide-open abortion-on-demand haven.” To make matters worse, her news release announcing her action, writes Mr. Andrusko, “was a head-scratcher. After the pro-forma ‘A woman has the right to make decisions about her own body,’ [Gov.] Grisham added, ‘Anyone who seeks to violate bodily integrity, or to criminalize womanhood, is in the business of dehumanization.’ ‘Criminalizing womanhood’? asks Mr. Andrusko. “Many supporters of the [new law], including [the Governor], believe,” notes Mr. Andrusko, “that ensuring protections for abortion rights in New Mexico will save the lives of people seeking abortion care [sic]. In fact, of course,” he adds, “the law can have only one effect: add to the 3,110 aborted babies the CDC reported for New Mexico in 2018,” the latest year for which the CDC has released abortion death-toll statistics. Among the legal provisions repealed by the new law was New Mexico’s conscience protection for medical providers.

• INDIANA LAWMAKERS HAVE ADVANCED a bill to require that abortionists prescribing the chemical abortion pill inform their customers of the availability of reversal of the deadly deed before the second pill is ingested. HB-1577 passed the state House by 67 to 27, reports Live Action’s Nancy Flanders. It needs to be considered next by the state Senate before being submitted to the governor.

• A PACKAGE OF FIVE PRO-LIFE BILLS – including a Partial-Birth Abortion Ban – has been sent to subcommittee in the Illinois House. By dispatching the bills to a subcommittee which is unlikely ever to meet, the committee’s majority provided radical lawmakers cover in ensuring “death with dignity” to bills which have strong public support but are anathema to the radical backers of the legislature’s majority party.

What’s Equal About That?

THE LEFT’s SO-CALLED ‘EQUALITY ACT’ – HR-5 when it passed the US House and now SR-5 for Senate consideration – was analyzed in a March 17 Washington Update from Family Research Council. We note the implications described by FRC writer Ruth Moreno near the close of the memo: “Under the guise of fairness, the Equality Act would create a legislative right to abortion and force physicians to provide – and insurance agencies to cover – abortions and other treatments and surgeries surrounding reproductive healthcare even if it violated their consciences to do so.”

It used to be that conscience clauses were widely accepted as instruments of fairness, but they are increasingly targets of the Left’s tyrannical pursuit of “abortion rights.”

For the Record

WE CONTINUE THIS WEEK THE STRING OF HOUSE ROLL CALLS relating to passage of HR-5, “The Equality Act,” totaling three House voting records on the one measure. We published the final-passage roll call March 1; this one is a procedural motion, by which the House voted to close debate on the “rule for consideration” of the bill, a necessary step toward advancement of the radical measure. We will publish the record on adoption of that rule in a later edition.

House Voting Record

HRes-147 – Procedural Motion Closing Debate on Rule for consideration of HR-5 – The ‘Equality’ Act – Feb. 24, 2021 – Adopted 219 to 211 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “no”/pro-Life: Aderholt, Brooks, Carl, Moore, Palmer, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Biggs, Gosar, Lesko, Schweikert/AZ; Crawford, Hill, Westerman, Womack/AR; Calvert, Garcia, Issa, Kim, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, Nunes, Obernolte, Steel, Valadao/CA; Boebert, Buck, Lamborn/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Cammack, Diaz-Balart, Donalds, Dunn, Franklin, Gaetz, Gimenez, Mast, Posey, Rutherford, Salazar, Steube, Waltz, Webster/FL; Allen, Carter, Clyde, Ferguson, Greene, Hice, Loudermilk, A. Scott/GA; Fulcher, Simpson/ID; Bost, R. Davis, Kinzinger, LaHood, Miller/IL; Baird, Banks, Barr, Bucshon, Hollingsworth, Pence, Spartz, Walorski/IN; Feenstra, Hinson, Miller-Meeks/IA; Estes, LaTurner, Mann/KS; Comer, Guthrie, Massie, Rogers/KY; Harris/MD; Graves, Higgins, Johnson, Scalise/LA; Bergman, Huizenga, McClain, Meijer, Moolenaar, Upton, Walberg/MI; Emmer, Fischbach, Hagedorn, Stauber/MN; Guest, Kelly, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith, Wagner/MO; Rosendale/MT; Bacon, Fortenberry, Smith/NE; Amodei/NV; Herrell/NM; Smith, VanDrew/NJ; Garbarino, Jacobs, Katko, Malliotakis, Reed, Stefanik, Tenney, Zeldin/NY; Bishop, Budd, Cawthorn, Foxx, Hudson, McHenry, Murphy, Rouzer/NC; Armstrong/ND; Balderson, Chabot, Davidson, Gibbs, Gonzalez, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Latta, Stivers, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Bice, Cole, Hern, Lucas, Mullin/OK; Bentz/OR; Fitzpatrick, Joyce, Keller, Kelly, Meuser, Perry, Reschenthaler, Smucker, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Mace, Norman, Rice, Timmons, Wilson/SC; Johnson/SD; Burchett, DesJarlais, Fleischmann, Green, Harshbarger, Kustoff, Rose/TN; Arrington, Babin, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Cloud, Crenshaw, Fallon, Gohmert, Gonzales, Gooden, Granger, Jackson, McCaul, Nehls, Pfluger, Roy, Sessions, Taylor, VanDuyne, Weber, Williams/TX; Curtis, Moore, Owens, Stewart/UT; Cline, Good, Griffith, Wittman/VA; Herrera-Beutler, Newhouse, Rodgers/WA; McKinley, Miller, Mooney/WV; Fitzgerald, Gallagher, Grothman, Steil, Tiffany/WI; Cheney/WY.

Voting “yes”/anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Gallego, Grijalva, Kirkpatrick, O’Halleran, Stanton/AZ; Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Cardenas, Chu, Correa, Costa, DeSaulnier, Eshoo, Garamendi, Gomez, Harder, Huffman, Jacobs, Khanna, Lee, Levin, Lieu, Lofgren, Lowenthal, McNerney, Napolitano, Panetta, Peters, Porter, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Torres, Vargas, Waters/CA; Crow, DeGette, Neguse, Perlmutter/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Hayes, Himes, Larson/CT; Blunt-Rochester/DE; Castor, Crist, Demings, Deutch, Frankel, Hastings, Lawson, Murphy, Soto, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Bishop, Bourdeaux, Johnson, McBath, D. Scott, Williams/GA; Case, Kahele/HI; Bustos, Casten, D.Davis, Foster, Garcia, Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Newman, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider, Underwood/IL; Carson, Mrvan/IN; Axne/IA; Davids/KS; Yarmuth/KY; Golden, Pingree/ME; Brown, Hoyer, Mfume, Raskin, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, Trone/MD; Auchincloss, Clark, Keating, Lynch, McGovern, Moulton, Neal, Pressley, Trahan/MA; Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, Levin, Slotkin, Stevens, Tlaib/MI; Craig, McCollum, Omar, Phillips/MN; Thompson/MS; Bush, Cleaver/MO; Horsford, Jones, Lee, Titus/NV; Kuster/NH; Gottheimer, Kim, Malinowski, Norcross, Pallone, Pappas, Pascrell, Payne, Sherrill, Sires, Watson-Coleman/NJ; Haaland, Leger-Fernandez/NM; Clarke, Delgado, Espaillat, Higgins, Jeffries, C. Maloney, S. Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Morelle, Nadler, Ocasio-Cortez, Rice, Suozzi, Tonko, Torres, Velazquez, /NY; Adams, Butterfield, Manning, Price, Ross/NC; Beatty, Fudge, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Bowman, Boyle, Cartwright, Dean, Doyle, Evans, Houlahan, Lamb, Scanlon, Wild/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen, Cooper/TN; Allred, Castro, Cuellar, Doggett, Escobar, Fletcher, Garcia, Gonzalez, Green, Jackson-Lee, Johnson, Veasey, Vela/TX; Welch/VT; Beyer, Connolly, Luria, McEachin, Scott, Spanberger, Wexton/VA; DelBene, Jayapal, Kilmer, Larsen, Schrier, Smith, Strickland/WA; Kind, Moore, Pocan/WI.

Not voting: Matsui/CA.

House Roll Call

HRes-233 – Removing the long-gone deadline for ratification of the “Equal Rights” Constitutional Amendment – March 16, 2021 – Adopted 216 to 204 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “no”/pro-Life: Aderholt, Brooks, Carl, Moore, Palmer, Rogers/AL; Biggs, Gosar, Lesko, Schweikert/AZ; Crawford, Hill, Westerman, Womack/AR; Calvert, Garcia, Issa, Kim, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, Nunes, Obernolte, Steel, Valadao/CA; Boebert, Buck, Lamborn/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Cammack, Diaz-Balart, Donalds, Dunn, Franklin, Gimenez, Mast, Posey, Rutherford, Salazar, Steube, Webster/FL; Allen, Carter, Clyde, Ferguson, Greene, Hice, Loudermilk, A.Scott/GA; Fulcher/ID; Bost, R.Davis, Kinzinger, LaHood, Miller/IL; Baird, Banks, Barr, Bucshon, Hollingsworth, Pence, Spartz, Walorski/IN; Feenstra, Hinson, Miller-Meeks/IA; Estes, LaTurner, Mann/KS; Comer, Guthrie, Massie, Rogers/KY; Harris/MD; Graves, Higgins, Johnson, Scalise/LA; Golden/ME; Bergman, Huizenga, McClain, Meijer, Moolenaar, Upton, Walberg/MI; Emmer, Fischbach, Hagedorn, Stauber/MN; Guest, Kelly, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith, Wagner/MO; Rosendale/MT; Bacon, Fortenberry, Smith/NE; Amodei/NV; Herrell/NM; Smith, VanDrew/NJ; Garbarino, Jacobs, Katko, Malliotakis, Reed, Stefanik, Tenney, Zeldin/NY; Bishop, Budd, Cawthorn, Foxx, Hudson, McHenry, Murphy, Rouzer/NC; Chabot, Davidson, Gibbs, Gonzalez, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Latta, Stivers, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Bice, Cole, Hern, Lucas, Mullin/OK; Bentz/OR; Fitzpatrick, Joyce, Keller, Kelly, Meuser, Perry, Reschenthaler, Smucker, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Mace, Norman, Rice, Timmons/SC; Johnson/SD; Burchett, DesJarlais, Fleischmann, Green, Harshbarger, Kustoff, Rose/TN; Arrington, Babin, Burgess, Carter, Cloud, Crenshaw, Fallon, Gohmert, Gonzales, Gooden, Granger, Jackson, McCaul, Nehls, Pfluger, Roy, Sessions, Taylor, VanDuyne, Weber, Williams/TX; Curtis, Moore, Owens, Stewart/UT; Cline, Good, Griffith, Wittman/VA; Herrera-Beutler, Newhouse, Rodgers/WA; McKinley, Miller, Mooney/WV; Fitzgerald, Gallagher, Grothman, Steil, Tiffany/WI; Cheney/WY.

Voting “yes”/anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Gallego, Grijalva, Kirkpatrick, O’Halleran, Stanton/AZ; Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Cardenas, Chu, Correa, Costa, DeSaulnier, Eshoo, Garamendi, Gomez, Harder, Huffman, Jacobs, Khanna, Lee, Levin, Lieu, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Napolitano, Panetta, Peters, Porter, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Torres, Vargas, Waters/CA; Crow, DeGette, Neguse, Perlmutter/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Hayes, Himes, Larson/CT; Blunt-Rochester/DE; Castor, Crist, Demings, Deutch, Frankel, Hastings, Lawson, Soto, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Bishop, Bourdeaux, Johnson, McBath, D.Scott, Williams/GA; Case, Kahele/HI; Bustos, Casten, D.Davis, Foster, Garcia, Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Newman, Quigley, Rush, Schakowsky, Schneider, Underwood/IL; Carson, Mrvan/IN; Axne/IA; Davids/KS; Yarmuth/KY; Pingree/ME; Brown, Hoyer, Mfume, Raskin, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes, Trone/MD; Auchincloss, Clark, Keating, Lynch, McGovern, Moulton, Neal, Pressley, Trahan/MA; Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, Levin, Slotkin, Stevens, Tlaib/MI; Craig, McCollum, Omar, Phillips/MN; Thompson/MS; Bush, Cleaver/MO; Horsford, Jones, Lee, Titus/NV; Kuster/NH; Gottheimer, Kim, Malinowski, Norcross, Pallone, Pappas, Pascrell, Payne, Sherrill, Sires, Watson-Coleman/NJ; Leger-Fernandez/NM; Clarke, Delgado, Espaillat, Higgins, Jeffries, C.Maloney, S. Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Morelle, Nadler, Ocasio-Cortez, Rice, Suozzi, Tonko, Torres, Velazquez/NY; Adams, Butterfield, Manning, Price, Ross/NC; Beatty, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Blumenauer, Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Bowman, Boyle, Cartwright, Dean, Doyle, Evans, Houlahan, Lamb, Scanlon, Wild/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen, Cooper/TN; Allred, Castro, Cuellar, Doggett, Escobar, Fletcher, Garcia, Gonzalez, Green, Jackson-Lee, Johnson, Veasey, Vela/TX; Welch/VT; Beyer, Connolly, Luria, McEachin, Scott, Spanberger, Wexton/VA; DelBene, Jayapal, Kilmer, Larsen, Schrier, Smith, Strickland/WA; Kind, Moore, Pocan/WI.

Not voting: Young/AK; Pelosi/CA; Gaetz, Murphy & Waltz/FL; Simpson/ID; Armstrong/ND; Balderson/OH; Wilson/SC; Brady/TX.

Senate Voting Record

Confirmation of Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health & Human Services – March 18, 2021 – Confirmed 50-49 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “no”/pro-Life: Shelby & Tuberville/AL, Murkowski & Sullivan/AK, Boozman & Cotton/AR, Rubio & Scott/FL, Crapo & Risch/ID, Braun & Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Marshall & Moran/KS, McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Hyde-Smith & Wicker/MS, Blunt & Hawley/MO, Daines/MT, Fischer & Sasse/NE, Burr & Tillis/NC, Cramer & Hoeven/ND, Portman/OH, Inhofe & Lankford/OK, Toomey/PA, Graham & Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Blackburn & Hagerty/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Lee & Romney/UT, Capito/WV, Johnson/WI and Barrasso & Lummis/WY.

Voting “yes”/anti-Life: Kelly & Sinema/AZ, Feinstein & Padilla/CA, Bennet & Hickenlooper/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper & Coons/DE, Ossoff & Warnock/GA, Schatz/HI, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, Collins & King(I)/ME, Cardin & VanHollen/MD, Markey & Warren/MA, Peters & Stabenow/MI, Klobuchar & Smith/MN, Tester/MT, Cortez-Masto & Rosen/NV, Hassan & Shaheen/NH, Booker & Menendez/NJ, Heinrich & Lujan/NM, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Brown/OH, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Leahy & Sanders/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Manchin/WV and Baldwin/WI.

Not voting: Hirono/HI.